STUART MCGINLEY: Now I never forget to take the poo bags

Spring has sprung and so far the April showers haven’t really materialised, but I can’t help but wonder if they are just waiting until May!

It’s that lovely time of year when we venture into the great outdoors or specifically DIY stores and garden centres.

I’m not really green-fingered myself and my idea of gardening is just mowing the lawn and pulling up green things from the ground that ‘look’ like weeds.

I leave the rest to my mum when she visits to tell me how I’ve pulled up a beautiful rare plant or flower!

Personally I much prefer to get out in the lovely countryside and beaches we have to offer in our beautiful county, especially the golden sands of the Witterings and Littlehampton, but one thing that really annoys me are litterbugs who just throw their rubbish everywhere or people who allow their dogs to foul on footpaths and areas used by children.

I love the way some people pretend to look away as if they can’t see what their dog is doing and then simply walk off. I wonder how they would feel if my dog was to do this in front of them?

I feel embarrassed as a dog-owner because it gives the impression we all behave like this which simply isn’t true – most do the right thing and have a pocket full of poo bags at the ready.

Although you can get caught out. Once I was walking past someone’s garden when my dog needed to go and duly did. I reached into my pocket and to my horror, I had forgotten the poo bags!

With people looking on, I had no choice but to pick it up with my bare hands using some leaves… not something I would want to repeat so I carry the poo bags everywhere now!

I only lived a couple of minutes away and could have gone home to get some bags and come back, but I didn’t want onlookers to think I was just walking off.

I washed my hands several times that day!

So stock up on the bags and enjoy the sunshine this spring!

:: Listen to McGinley in the Morning with Stuart McGinley each weekday from 6am on Spirit FM